The RisingThe Rising Book One The Darkness Series

Chapter 4

‘What the holy hell happened?’ Asher thought, lifting his head to look around. Slowly, he got to his feet, and Asher stepped out of the dugout. A dark cloud seemed to hover in the sky above, blocking the sun and turning a beautiful sky gray.

One minute Asher was hitting the winning run and the next he was cowering in the corner of the dugout scared shitless as black surrounded him. It was like nothing he had ever seen.

It came out of nowhere, the darkness. It rolled over the field, sweeping up everything in its path. Cars parked around the are now toppled over. Risers that held people watching the game are empty and crunched in spots as if something stomped on them. It made no sense.

When Asher had stepped onto the field that afternoon it was a bright beautiful fall day. But opening his eyes now everything is cloudy, a dark fog covering the ground, and the air is thick and heavy. Something ominous is on its way.

Cautiously, Asher walked out the gate and looked around. The stands are empty and there isn’t a single sound. The silence is deafening. Walking to the pitcher’s mound, he turned in a circle looking at everything that’s left. There’s not much.

The crowd that was watching the game is gone. There’s no birds singing or flying overhead, no dogs barking, no sound of traffic or anything. It’s as if everyone and everything just disappeared without a trace.

Asher spots a girl, no older than sixteen, hunched down under the stands. Her jeans are ripped at the knees, the white shirt has dirt smeared all over it. Her hair is a wild mass of black ringlets around her round face. Those wide, tiger eyes dart from side to side.

When she spots him, the girl grips the metal brace of the stands as if ready to push off to run away. She’s frightened by him, not surprised by his presence but afraid of it. As if he is the person responsible for that crazy storm.

Asher tries to ease the tension by making himself smile. Keeping his voice warm and easy, he calls to her. “Hey! Are you okay? What happened? Where is everyone?”

She stepped back, scared of what she saw coming her way. Asher still has his bat in his hand just in case. He didn’t think he looked menacing but by the look on her face, she must think he’s going to attack her. Asher is an athlete, and a decent sized guy. He is in shape, he plays ball, lifts weights and does what’s needed for the game. Asher has been known to get the ladies attention, but he’s no bodybuilder or anything that impressive.

Stopping from approaching her further, Asher wracks his brain trying to remember what happened. He was at bat, the crowd was cheering him on. He was confident that he was going to hit a home run this time. He heard his name called out by… his girlfriend.

Spinning around to where he remembered seeing her, he found no one there, all the seats were empty. She was there, up in the risers watching him when the darkness hit. What was that storm?

The Darkness took her along with everyone else. He remembered looking up as the darkness hit. She just melted away, right in front of his eyes. Rubbing his eyes, Asher looks around the field again. His eyes land back on the girl and notices she keeps backing away from him.

“Hey! It’s okay. I won’t hurt you! I promise. We should stick together and find everyone else!” Asher called out walking toward her.

“I’m not scared of you, fool! It’s what’s behind you!” Without another word, she turns to run away. Asher glanced over his shoulder to look at whatever frightened the girl.

“Holy shit!” He mutters, moving slowly away from it.

The sleek black panther stalked closer to him. As the sunlight hits its coat, he can see the defined pattern on the slick side of the big cat. Every muscle is a taunt sinuous line. Those green eyes track him and the girl as the cat steps closer.

‘Where did this fricking big cat come from?’ Asher asked himself. There is no zoo nearby.

Remembering that you shouldn’t run away from a bear, but make noise and make yourself look bigger. Asher didn’t know the rules for a panther. He never planned on getting this close to a cat this size.

“Screw this!” Asher grumbled, gripping his bat just in case he needed it before he could get away.

Turning, Asher took off after the girl. Running as fast as he could, Asher glanced back and caught the magnificent cat moving faster behind him. There’s no way he could outrun this cat. Knowing he’s out of his league, Asher frantically looks for somewhere to hide.

Asher chides himself as he continues to run. “Like I can run faster than a panther.”

He caught up to the girl easily enough and grabbed her hand. Figuring it's safer to stick together, Asher dragged her along with him to keep her moving. They turn the corner of the gym and race down the alley between the college educational buildings. Asher knew they were going to be stuck if the door to get inside wasn’t open.

“Door on the left! Get it open fast!” He yell as he stepped in front of the girl to block her from getting hurt. Still holding onto the bat in his hand, Asher figures it’s as good as anything for a weapon.

Banging the bat against the metal fence, Asher tried to buy her time. “Over here big guy or girl, whatever you are! Stay focused on me!”

The panther slowed down and began to pace back and forth in front of him. It’s then when the situation freaked Asher out. He never would have believed it if someone told him this was possible. Asher was positive he would tell them they’re full of shit.

It isn’t possible but the panther changed right in front of Asher’s eyes. A physical change as the big cat shifted from beast to man. A really big, muscular naked man, with sweat slick dark skin and bright green eyes.

“What the fuck? How did you… what are you?” Asher plaster his back against the wall.

Shocked, was an understatement. He knew what he just saw wasn’t possible but he saw it with his own eyes. He saw the giant cat morph into a man. Staring wide eyed at the man, Asher rubbed his eyes and shook his head as the man stood up to full height.

Asher recognized the man as one of the football players from the school. Defense squad Asher remembered. Big guy, bigger now that he’s up close and a bit more personal than he would like to be. Keeping his eyes on the catman’s eyes, because Asher refused to look below the man’s chin, the man cautiously watches Asher too.

“Why’d you run?” The man asks a little out of breath.

“You were a fucking panther, dude! What were we supposed to do, just stand there and let you maul us?” Asher questioned him then wondered if he didn’t know what just happened to him.

“I’m a what?” The man shook his head, almost refusing to believe it. But then curiously he focused on his hand and watched under his scrutinizing gaze as his hand turned into a big paw with razor sharp claws then back to normal.

“Whoa! That’s cool.” Doing it again, the man smiled at Asher. Cool didn’t come close. “I ain’t gonna hurt you. Chill out, bro.”

Asher lowered the bat and leaned it against his leg. Trying to get his breath back, he watched his new friend change his hand to paw and back again completely awed by his new ability.

“I’m Asher. You’re Cosmo, right? The football team edge rusher?” Asher introduced himself, figuring Cosmo would be less likely to scratch his eyes out if knows who he’s aligning himself with.

“Yeah, I know you. That’s Lexi, my little sister. Get over here, Lex. He’s cool.” Cosmo calls to the frightened girl who’s pushed herself into the corner trying to get through the fence. Taking the back pack from her, Cosmo puts on some track pants and tennis shoes.

“So what was that? How do you do that? I mean, you’re a fricking panther!” It still seemed unreal what he saw.

“Pretty cool skill.” Cosmo stopped playing with his paw and looked around. “After all that shit happened with that weird dark storm, everything is different.”

“What happened to everyone?” Asher asked, still in shock.

“I don’t know. Lexi wanted to come to the game, so I brought her out. We were in the stands and it was like this massive dark storm cloud came rolling in. Literally rolling right over everything and everyone. It just sucked up everything it touched.” Cosmo is as confused by what has happened as Asher. Maybe no one knows what happened or why.

“So where is everyone then?” Asher wondered out loud.

“Dunno. It’s been freaky. Dude, you got hit by this massive lightning bolt right when you hit the ball! You should be dead.” Cosmo informs Asher as they start walking out of the alley.

Asher didn’t remember the lightning, he barely remembers the dark clouds. He remembers going up to bat, but after that everything is blank. “Where is everyone else though? The stands were full for the game, now there is no one left.”

“Seriously? The game was weeks ago, Asher. You don’t remember anything?” Lexi questioned, stopping him from walking further. Asher just looks around bewildered about what he’s learning.

‘Weeks? How could he have been out of it for weeks?’ There has to be a reason.

Cosmo sees the panic and confusion on Asher’s face and slaps that big meaty hand on his shoulder. “You might want to sit down for the rest of it. There’s a lot more that you don’t know. None of it is easy to understand or believe. You saw what happened to me, wait until you hear the rest.”

They searched around the campus for a good place to hole up for a bit. Finding a safe spot wasn’t as easy as they thought it would be. There was a group of people burning a car in one of the parking lots, more that were busting up windows and trashing everything they could. They could hear gunshots in the distance and knew whoever was shooting were getting closer to the campus.

Finally the three arrived at the science labs. Cosmo, it turned out, is into chemistry and spends a lot of time here. There’s a snack machine in the hall, so he breaks into it and fills a backpack with soda and water, chips and cookies. Once they have provisions they locked themselves in the lab and Cosmo filled Asher in on what he’s missed.

“Almost everyone is dead or missing. Whatever was in that storm took over half of the human race with it. Millions of people are just gone.” Snapping his fingers as if that’s just how easy they vanished. “Just gone, some of the others that are left are like those you saw out there but some are like us. People walking through walls and into trees, and I mean into a tree. others lighting a fire with a thought. I’ve seen some crazy shit these last few weeks.”

That doesn’t explain to Asher how he has been missing this whole time. He doesn’t like the feel of it but knows he won’t find any answers sitting around here. They need to find others like them and start comparing stories.

“There’s tons of pets running loose, plenty of animals but no people. It’s like a bomb dropped. And the ones that are left… aren’t the same as they were before.” Cosmo says before shoving a ding dong, whole, into his mouth.

“What do you mean not the same?” He wasn’t liking the sound of this.

“He means that they’re either like those we saw out there looting and raging. Anger and hate have taken them over. And fear, they are scared of what some of us have become or what they have become. So they want to destroy what the darkness brought here.” Lexi looks down obviously hurt and scared about it all.

Frowning at the bigotry and condemnation that only tears people apart, Asher is determined to know what they are dealing with. “What do you mean what you’ve become? I know Cosmo has a panther in him, what are you?”

Looking at Cosmo, Lexi waits for him to give her a nod before she goes on. “I see things, feel them, sense trouble before it comes, I see things before they happen. I guess I’m some sort of witch.” She’s hesitant to tell what she knows.

“Seer. You see things like predicting the future. That’s a Seer.” And who would have guessed Asher’s fascination with Dungeons and Dragons would come in handy for real life.

“Whatever it is, I have power, but I don’t know how or why I got it.” Lexi doesn’t seem as thrilled with her power as Cosmo is.

“So you know what we are, what are you?” Cosmo asks as he puts another ding dong in his mouth.

“Me? I don’t have a cool power or turn into anything. Iron Man would be cool, but he didn’t really have power, just a wicked brain for technology. Now Thor, he’s got serious power.” They both looked at Asher like he’s the biggest nerd. Feeling embarrassed, and clearing his throat, Asher tries to talk his way out of it. “No, I don’t have any power.”

“I bet you do. Maybe you just have to focus or something to, you know, bring it out. Try it.” Cosmo urged him.

‘How am I supposed to argue with a fricking panther?’ Asher silently asked himself.

Shrugging his shoulders, Asher closed his eyes and focused on his hands, on his breathing but nothing happened. He had to admit he felt better, relaxed and at ease, but hyper focused. That unnerved him. He could feel the blood moving through his veins, and from somewhere he heard the click of a door lock somewhere. His senses suddenly went on high alert, as Asher knew something was coming.

“I don't feel anything.” Cautious because he was certain something was wrong, Asher wanted to stop playing around.

“Keep trying, it took me a couple times too. The first time I passed out.” Cosmo admitted with his mouth full.

Closing his eyes again, Asher focused on that feeling in his gut. What is it, searching, digging deeper into himself, all Asher can find is light. Like weights have been lifted from his shoulder and a warmth begins to spread through him. It’s familiar to Asher like coming home and finding himself. Letting the light grow inside him, Asher feels a need, a purpose beginning to build but he doesn’t feel power.

“Nothing is happening. I don’t think I’ve got any power.” He tells them, but the two stare, jaws slack in shock. “What? Do I have chocolate on my face?”

Quickly Asher starts wiping his face off with his hands. “I was starving, sorry.”

“Dude, you’re glowing! Like white light, real magic shit! What are you?” Cosmo asks, touching his arm and getting a sizzling spark from the contact. He shakes his hand to get rid of the tingling sensation. “Too cool.”

The three of them were so preoccupied with Asher’s change that they didn’t notice the group of guys who quietly came into the room behind them. Four big, burly guys who look like they have been living on the streets for several weeks. Dirty, straggling hair, scruffy beards and ripped up jeans that have dried blood splattered on them.

“Lookie, lookie, boys. We’re in luck today. A decent looking woman and a bag of loot. This is what I’d call a bootie call! Hand over the goods and we won’t kill you.” The greasy guy with a long dark ponytail said with a cocky grin that showed off his toothless smile.

Cosmo pushes Lexi behind him and gives Asher a slow nod with a look that tells him the panther is coming out. Joining him in front of Lexi, they stood their ground against the bullies. With his bat in his hand, Asher prepared to fight.

When the first guy lunged at him, Cosmo let out his panther growl, surprising the guy enough he stopped moving. Cosmo’s fists turned to claws and the rest of him changed in front of them. Not sure who was more freaked out, the slugs or Asher, he swallowed down his fear and raised the bat. Cosmo lunged out, ripping at one of the guys. Long claws dug into soft flesh as blood oozed out from the wounds.

Another of the three decided to test his luck and came at Asher as he swung his bat. He must have hit the sweet spot because the bat sent the guy clear across the room. He was knocked out instantly when his head hit the brick wall.

The third came quickly after that and Asher moved to block his access to Lexi but didn't need to. Lexi held her hands out in front of her and levitated the guy in the air. Unable to move, he screamed like girl right before Lexi tossed him on top of the second guy. Turning together towards the last intruder, they took two steps in his direction before he hightailed it out of there.

This wasn’t as safe a spot as they thought. “We need to find a place to lay low.” Cosmo says softly as Lexi paled from the effort of her powers.

Leaning against her brother, Lexi’s body sagged in exhaustion. Feeling a little off balance himself, Asher swore he didn’t use any power but can’t explain the tingling sensation zipping through his body.

“The suns gonna set soon. Let’s take this conversation somewhere else. More like him will be coming when dark hits and they have wicked power. Sirens and dark fairies, beasts and just ugly human nature to destroy all come out in the dark. We need to go.” Cosmo suggests not willing to take the risk to rest. Taking the lead, Cosmo led them out of the building in search of safety.

Slowly working their way around the maze of hallways and buildings, alleys and dark corridors, they weaved through campus from one end to the other. Finding small groups looting in some areas, cackling madly as a fire roared to life in another. None of what they saw could be real. Nothing that was happening was sane, but it was happening all the same.

Finding themselves in a parking garage, they hurried to the bottom floor, bending low between cars, and hiding when necessary. When they came to a car that wasn’t burned out or destroyed, they took a chance and climbed in.

Lexi put her hand on the ignition and started the vehicle magically. They drove quickly out of the garage as a group spotted them and raced their way. Turning out of the drive and squealing the tires, Cosmo drove away from campus.

Rural areas are safer, according to Cosmo. More land, open space, and less people. And they might find a farm with some vegetable fields that they could get real food from. It will have to work for the time being, the three of them were starting to lose energy fast.

Maybe they will find others along the way. Maybe they’ll figure out where everyone went. Maybe someone will have some answers about the darkness and where they go from here.

There has to be more good people than just them left in this world.